
Being a BeOS user (a purely desktop system) and because I code under Linux, I see
XFree86 (v4.1 on my machine) as a user and as a developper. And this is where the problem lies. My Gnome or KDE desktops are slow in comparison with other operating systems, but XFree86, the 'engine' behind these desktops, proves me that it's not. Let's look at what I have in front of me: a dual Pentium III at 933Mhz with 512MB of memory, a Radeon 32 AIW, a modified Mandrake 8.0 powered by kernel 2.4.18.
.. or the ones included in XFree? Because I've seen extreme problems with speed on Radeon cards that are not present with other cards with the included drivers.
Secondly, XFree86 4.2.1 (current) is already faster than XFree86 4.1.0 from what I hear.